A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh (2008-01-22)

Well-written, easy read - and highly relevant to 2015 issues. If you are concerned about current events, particularly #BlackLivesMatter, Ferguson (and the Ferguson DOJ report), and the events in Baltimore, then I think you will enjoy this book.

This book illustrates that less is more when it comes to this type of research on criminal groups. It has amazing and personal stories that come from years of focused efforts. It also shows how complex it is to separate criminal activity from everyday life.

Fantastic story of the gritty Chicago gang infrastructure as told by Sudhir Venkatesh, at the time a grad student who grows within the Black King's community as he gathers notes and information for a "book".

It was a wonderful insight into the reality of living in Chicago from the late 80's to mid 90's. Is the dialogue a little unrealistic? Sure, but in all honesty, I would have grown tired of reading slang, so I'm very grateful that he avoided that route. I am thoroughly looking forward to reading the floating city.
I'm not a terribly slow reader and I'm not the quickest either, but the chapters are long, so be ready for a marathon of reading. It is well worth it though. I feel like I learned a lot about my fellow man and about a class that works hard to remain a family.

Interesting story. I would like to make everyone read this to get a clearer pictures inside the culture of this black population. The book challenges a lot of preconceived notions surrounding poverty and race and causes the reader to think. I highly recommend it! It is easy to read and very intriguing.

I read Freakonomics, and was interested in the chapter about "the Sociologist that studied urban gangs" so much, that I purchased this book.

Seeing the Urban environment through the author's eyes, an Indian American, is a unique perspective. I enjoyed his journey through the myriad of informal and formal institutions: The Gangs, Housing Authority, Law Enforcement, and etc.

I expected more of the analysis,keen observations, and eye opening truths based on data that I read in Freakonmics. This book did not have much of this at all.

Gang Leader for a Day provides a tragic and fascinating study of how people left stranded in a stateless and lawless society form an intricate and complex hierarchy and still manage to make a life. The reader witnesses the raw capitalism of high risk/reward and cannibalistic, corrupting power - not on Wall Street but among the various criminal and micro-business enterprises dominated by the bustling crack trade in the 90's in the poverty-locked Chicago projects.

This is a narrative of Sudhir Venkatesh as he explores the community and economy of a crack gang. This is a very interesting book and I think it really helped me understand the world better. I would suggest this to anyone that will work with the public, any teachers, police officers, military officers, and all other public servants.

Excellent book! After hearing so much in the news about Chicago gangs I wanted to read a book that helped me understand all the violence and this gave me insight into the motivation for belonging to a gang. It also made me realize how bad the plight of the poor really is.

This book was extremely intriguing. I loved how Venkatesh approached such a concerning topic in a way that is seldom practiced; immersing himself in the climate of the projects and the tenants and gang members. Great book and great work.

The book is basically about this grad student who tries to study the sociological effects of poor African-American communities. His original plan was to go around interviewing people and asking them questions like "How does it make you feel knowing that you're poor?" and such. By whatever chances, the first person he randomly encounters is a gang leader, and the gang leader goes, "You can't learn about people just by asking them questions. That does nothing. You have to hang out with them. Actually spend time with them and see what it's like living their life." So he starts hanging around the neighborhood and talking to the people, and somehow ends up basically being part of the community. Some of the stories he tells literally feel like it came out of one of those Hollywood movies about gangsters. Women "turning tricks" to feed and clothe the kids, intricate political systems within the crime-infested community, corrupt police forces, high school kids dropping out to join gangs, people who aspire to do more than sell drugs.

This is definitely a good read, even for people who aren't interested in sociology. For me, I almost felt like I was living in the shoes of the author and experiencing these gang stories with him. At best, it'll inspire you to take action and do something to help communities like the one described in the book. At worst, it'll make you think about the drastic difference in lifestyles of people in America and give you more appreciation for your own situations.

I first heard about this book on a National Public Radio interview of the author. This book was everything I had hoped for and more. I feel I am very familiar with Chicago, (I drove a Yellow Cab in the 70's) so I was delighted with the chance to view a part of Chicago not in my experiance. I truly did not want to put the book down. Now I am going to read other works by Sudhir Venkatesh. Thank you so much!

I think this is a must read for anybody, especially middle-class Americans. Sudhir's research provides incredible insight into the inner-city gang life and presents it in a very readable story format - his story.

I mentor several inner-city teens on the south side of Chicago - this book helped me to better understand their struggles and choices.

Absolutely fascinating. Finished it in a day.

The ending bothered me a bit, Sudhir suggests he was just hustling everyone for information and may have never been friends with the drug leader at all. He spent several years hanging out with the drug leader regularly, even took naps and did homework in the drug leader's mothers home and often ate her home cooked meals. I believe a lot of his disconnection is do to his desire to be taken seriously as a sociologist and not some hippie hanging around drug dealers.

Sudhir Venkatesh has created a clear, intimate account of the social politics of the Black urban underclass. His account strikes a good balance between a warm, humane narrative and a neutral observer's perspective. The reader will begin to understand how this subculture makes sense, why it operates the way it does, and how middle class assumptions obfuscate it's validity, decency.
The book also holds a nice account of the ethnographic process, it's strengths, problems and pitfalls. Writing style is a bit slow or halting, but the interesting subject matter pulls the reader through from page to page.

Venkatesh's​ decade-long qualitative research will make you feel as if you are coming along for the ride as he meticulously investigates, questions, and reveals the day-to-day life of gang leaders and gang members in inner-city Chicago. Venkatesh spent 10 years seeking to learn about gang life and the drug trade. The revelations are remarkable. The book displays a telling truth about the hustles many of these residents must go through in order to survive.

However, although a great book not made for scholastic purposes, Venkatesh did not reveal whether he communicated with any of the gang affiliates after he left Chicago for NYC to work at Columbia University. Still, to be understood was Vankatesh's true motives for this book and his interests in gangs are rather vague. For example, he states that he wanted to impress one of his professors by doing a survey of those living in public housing. To me, this reasons seems rather weak. Although Venkatesh did an exceptional job on his observations and analysis; in all, it seems as if he was exploiting the people he was studying. The only difference was that their identities are left confidential, which by research protocol is the rule. It just seemed to me that he committed to the decade-long study, he left caring less about the fate of those he followed in the book whose homes were about to be demolished. In all, I commend Vankatesh's bravado in coming out of his comfort zone and enter another world to study gang leaders. Information about gangs and gang leaders would be left otherwise obscure. I can assume the experience was like walking into a war zone. I'm just left disappointed about his purpose for the writing the book.

Well written book. As a white suburbanite that grew up near Baltimore and having worked in the hospitals of the city, I often cared for gang members who had been involved in gang activity. I wondered what was going on? What were these guys (and girls) doing at 03:00 that landed them in the hospital?

While the violence is not the focus of this book, it does cover much of the day to day activities of a gang. It illustrates how the families and kids spend their days and why many people who grow up in that environment stay there.

If you're looking for an action packed gangster book, this is not it. If you want to see how a gang member lives, it's really good.

Well done Professor

Gangs are created by human beings. Venkatesh reveals how humanity, social conditions, and stupid policies can create the monstrosities of gangs. He gives hope to all who seek to understand the secrets of deviant behavior in a society of plenty. The raw stuff of humanity vitiates popular media stereotypes within this dynamic sociological study.

Love this book.

Sudhir the sociologist spent 7 years, with the gang leader in a Chicago public housing complex.

As the story unravels, you become Sudhir. You go through many periods of fear, uncertainty, anxiety, and anticipation of the unknown. Then the gang leader is actually a great human being. His gang members did many good deeds for this community. Despite the fact that selling drugs and prostitution as ways to generate revenues.

If you are passionate about understanding the community of the very poor, you will love this book. If you are a sociologist, you can learn all the theory in the classroom. But the real-life experience is the best way to understand the operation and the justification of the gang in a community like this.

I will recommend this book to every one.